Hanoi Tour Day 1: Gondola Hotel Hanoi Review. Where to stay in Hanoi? I am going to share my experiences on travelling Vietnam Hanoi with my family. We are on budget. Did not sign any Hanoi tour package. Our Hanoi trip is fun and interesting. You do not have to spend much for a luxury trip. According to our original schedule, we should have arrived in Hanoi at 4 pm but we arrived there at about 7 pm due to some technical problems about our flight (MAS airline). We flight back to KLIA Malaysia and transited to another aircraft. Quite a scary experience but MAS airline gave us a better plane with leather seats and each seat came with a LCD monitor, not bad!

The first Vietnamese word I learned at the airport is “vệ sinh” means toilet, pronounced as “wet sing”. Taxi fares from Hanoi airport to our hotel are 315000 dong. Lots of flowers and balloons can be seen on the road. We thought that it was Vietnamese Valentine’s day but it was actually International Women’s Day on 8 March, almost all women and girls have flowers and balloons. With a little bit of rain, it was a very beautiful scene to me.

Walked in a local noodle store, do not know how to speak and read Vietnamese. We used body languages and ordered these four types of Vietnamese noodles as shown in photo above. Surprisingly, everything was so yummy and only 35000 dong per bowl. There is nothing much to see at night in Hanoi, shops closed early and it was quite dangerous walking around. Vietnamese girls usually go home before 11 pm.

Gondola Hotel Hanoi

We stayed in Gondola Hotel Hanoi (3 ½ stars) located at 31 Hang Hanh, Hoan Kiem, Hoan Kiem, Old Quarter Hanoi for the first two nights and also the last night. The difference between a 3 stars and 4 stars hotel is just the facilities provided in the hotel such as gym room and swimming pool (my third brother told me). There are many good hotels in Hanoi old quarter! Book through Agoda! It was about $USD 48 (original price is $USD 80) per night for superior room and breakfast is included for two adults. Gondola is one of the best budget hotels in Hanoi!